Air Force centralizes network security force

To keep abreast of increasing network security vulnerabilities, the Air Force Network Operations and Security Center next spring will open shop at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.

On April 1, AFNOSC will begin with a staff of about 89 government and contract employees. The new organization pools the resources of staff culled from the Air Force's Network Operations Center and Computer Emergency Response Team and a command and control operations center.

Lt. Col. Ronnie Edge, chief of the Air Force Network Operations Center at Maxwell Air Force Base's Gunter Annex, Ala., said the purpose of the security center will be to identify network security issues, vulnerabilities, attempted intrusions and attacks and then develop appropriate responses.

The new center will provide an integrated command and control process for protecting Air Force networks, Edge added.

'Combining network operations and the help desk gives us enterprisewide situational awareness and helps us link what's happening on the network to the application,' Edge said.